Bridport

I am in Bridport for Christmas with all the family. The house is rented and is enormous and very odd. There are two staircases and one of them is accessed only from two of the bedrooms, in other words, you have to go through one of the bedrooms to get access to the top floor where there are yet more bedrooms. Anne, my youngest daughter, is a great organiser and my slot for cooking was yesterday - which is good since it is now Sunday and I can sit back for the rest of the holiday!! Yesterday we walked round Bridport in the rain. There are a lot of antique stores - all really 1950s bric brac. So nothing beautiful - or worth buying. Today we are going to Weymouth to the pantomine. I think the intention is to have a fish-and-chip lunch.  

It seems a very sparse list seeing as how I felt busy the whole time. I admit to spending a lot of time doing sudoku. I have got Fibreworks with me and intend to create a few drafts. I did manage to write up Quigley weaves and circulate it before I left home. Quigley are tied weaves which allow you to produce a twill background. Very attractive. I have created a lot of drafts and have decided that trying to do 'pictures'  is a waste of time. Geometric patterns look better. To the extent that  I may put this warp on an 8 or 12 shaft loom. I need to work out usage on the looms. Only the Megado and the Louet Kombo have warps on them and both of them must be off by the end of January.

The projects are as follows

1) enamels on Megado - finished by mid January

2) Double weave on Kombo - finish by end January. This is intended to be submitted to Small Expressions in mid February.

3) warp up two 12 shaft looms by 3rd week of January for class to weave on (This will take a week to do)

4) Weave ikat on LeClerc Voyager (which reminds me that Bridport is not far from Dorchester and I will visit Frank Herring to morrow. Haven't been there since I bought the Voyager.) I am going to visit my sister in Dundee over New Year and can knock this off up there. In between doing some dyeing and stencilling with Dorothy.

5) Warp up something for Quigley weaves - Kombo? I am thinking in terms of a linen warp and a worsted weft - linsey-woolsey in fact. I fancy a waistcoat.

6) Warp up Megado with silk - I created a nice draft which looks like bamboo. I will do this in Uppinghams 90/2 silk. 

7) warp up Pioneer. This is my new loom and I have a great idea for  a complicated weave of weaves. I need some weaving 8 inches square for an exhibition by Midlands Textile Forum in April. The title of the exhibition is 'Stretching the boundaries'

8) Think about Nature in Art. MTF is having an exhibition there at Easter 2014 and they are very keen to have items outside. So I am thinking of weaving some rope!!  Finger-weaving?

9) Hana ori, needs the Megado - and the Swedish yarn. William Hall tells me it will be with me in mid January 

Other jobs which need doing? Well I have two lectures to give in the New Year and need to write both. So lots to keep me busy. I am still feeling very well and energetic - just as well in view of the above list. I need to create a time table. I have been trying to persuade some member of the family to cook me sausages and bacon for breakfast without success - so I am off to do it myself. I mean what's the point of going on holiday with teh family if they won't do a simple thing like that.